t  2763 

- 


RAILROAD 


TO 


THE    PACIFIC 


BY  THOS.  PRENTICE  KETTELL,  ESQ. 


UMHJT 

(From  the  Democratic.  Review,  for  September,  1849.) 

RAILROAD    TO    THE    PACIFIC. 


THE  necessity  of  a  direct  internal  communication  between  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  states  of  the  Union,  is  apparently  uni- 
versally admitted.  None,  not  even  those  whose  political  intrigues  induce 
them  to  trifle  with  the  best  interests  of  Western  America,  and  hazard 
by  insolent  neglect,  in  the  furtherance  of  party  schemes,  the  welfare  of 
the  Pacific  states,  doubt  the  ultimate  necessity  of  a  railroad  communica- 
tion. Since  the  breaking  up  of  the  great  Roman  Empire,  there  has 
never  been  embraced  under  a  single  government  so  great  an  extent  of 
continuous  territory — peopled  by  an  active,  intelligent  people — as  is  now 
subject  to  the  laws  of  the  federal  government.  The  immense  territory, 
which,  subjected  by  the  Roman  legions,  gradually  fell  under  the  sway  of 
the  "  eternal  city,"  was  cemented  and  held  in  subjection  only  by  the 
prompt  construction  of  those  wonderful  highways,  whose  firmness  has 
withstood  the  efforts  of  fifteen  centuries.  From  the  wall  of  Antoninus  in 
Scotland,  through  England,  France,  Italy,  Byzantium,  to  Jerusalem,  a 
distance  of  3,740  English  miles,  the  solid  structure  perforated  mountains, 
bridged  on  bold  arches  the  broadest  and  most  rapid  streams,  connecting 
all  the  chief  cities  of  the  empire  with  the  Roman  Forum.  At  every  five 
miles  of  this  distance  existed  a  station-house,  supplied  with  forty  horses, 
by  means  of  which  the  route  could  be  travelled  at  the  rate  of  100  miles  per 
day,  for  the  conveyance  of  intelligence.  As  soon  as  a  territory  was  annexed 
to  the  empire,  the  prolongation  of  this  road  was  at  once  effected  to  facili- 
tate the  march  of  the  legions,  and  consolidate  the  imperial  power.  These 
roads  were  the  arteries  that  gave  vitality  to  the  government;  and  if  in 
those  days,  they  were  important  to  facilitate  the  movement  of  troops 
— which  were  the  instruments  of  territorial  aggrandizement — how  much 
more  so  are  they  in  our  country  in  the  19th  century,  when  industrial  en- 
terprise is  the  agent  of  annexation,  and  commercial  intercourse  the 
means  of  consolidation  ?  The  necessity  has  been  universally  recognized, 
and  works  of  proximate  importance  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  perfected 
by  individual,  state,  and  national  enterprise.  Multitudes  of  turnpikes  and 
railroads  testify  to  the  first.  The  noble  canals  of  New-York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Illinois  and  Indiana,  are  examples  of  the  second,  while  the 
Cumberland  road  is  not  altogether  an  insignificant  imitation  of  the 
Roman  highways.  On  the  opening  of  the  north-west  territory  to  settle- 
ment, it  was  determined  to  procure  the  construction,  by  Congress,  of  a 
national  road,  running  from  east  to  west,  in  order  to  make  accessible  the 
interior  of  those  states  to  the  eastern  markets  ;  the  natural  outlet  down 
the  Mississippi  then  being  in  the  hostile  hands  of  Spain.  For  this  ob- 
ject Congress,  in  1S06,  passed  a  law  to  construct  a  national  road  from 
Cumberland,  in  Maryland,  to  Ohio.  This  was  opposed  by  many,  on  the 
ground  that  the  federal  constitution  conferred  no  power  on  Congress  to 
spend  the  public  money  for  works  of  improvement.  Certain  it  is,  that  if 
Congress  possesses  such  a  power  in  an  unlimited  degree,  in  connection 
with  the  right  to  borrow  money  for  such  purposes,  it  is  the  most  danger- 
ous prerogative  which  can  exist  in  our  country.  After  debate,  the  mat- 


4  Railroad  to  the  Pacific. 

ter  was  compromised  by  a  provision  in  the  law,  requiring  the  assent  of' 
Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  through  parts  of  which  states  the 
road  must  pass,  for  its  construction.  This  was  merely  an  evasion ;  for  if 
Congress  did  not  possess  the  power,  the  assent  of  these  states  would  not 
confer  it ;  and  if  it  did  possess  the  power,  the  assent  was  unnecessary. 
Public  opinion  is  now  apparently  settled  down  to  the  strict  construction 
of  the  constitution,  which  confers  no  power  on  Congress  to  undertake 
works  of  internal  improvement.  It  may  well  be  supposed  that  tne  ex- 
penditure, by  Congress,  of  a  considerable  sum  of  money  in  a  new  state, 
was  far  too  desirable  to  the  people  and  landholders  of  that  state,  to  suffer 
the  matter  to  slumber ;  and  some  forty  different  acts  have  prolonged  the 
road  from  Cumberland,  through  Pennsylvania,  part  of  Virginia,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  across  Illinois,  running  from  Wheeling  nearly  parallel  to 
the  Hiver  Ohio,  to  Alton,  on  the  Mississippi  River.  The  amounts 
appropriated  by  Congress  have  been,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
road  in  1806  to  1838,  east  of  the  Ohio  River,  $1,901,041;  in  Ohio, 
$2,081,008;  in  Indiana,  $1,135,000;  in  Illinois,  8746,000,  making  a 
total  of  $5,863;049,  until  the  stoppage  of  the  road,  in  1838.  Of  the 
whole  sum  expended  by  Congress,  a  portion  was  to  be  reimbursed  by 
the  new  states,  from  the  per  centage  of  public  lands  sold  within  the 
states,  allowed  to  each  on  its  admission  into  the  Union.  It  has  been 
the  custom,  on  the  admission  of  a  new  state  into  the  Union,  for  Con- 
gress to  make  to  it  a  grant  from  the  public  lands,  for  schools,  a  seminary, 
a  seat  of  government,  &/c.,  and  to  allow  to  it  5  per  cent,  of  the  proceeds 
of  lands  sold  within  its  border,  after  paying  expenses,  for  the  construction 
of  roads  and  canals.  Of  this  sum  of  5  per  cent.,  3  per  cent,  is  paid 
over  to  the  state,  to  be  expended  under  its  direction,  and  the  remaining 
2  per  cent,  is  expended  under  the  direction  of  Congress.  This  2  per 
cent,  fund  has  supplied  part  of  the  sum  expended  by  Congress.  Since 
the  Cumberland  road  was  undertaken,  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  by 
Congress  has  taken  place,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  opening  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  father  of  waters  to  the  sea,  in  order  that  the  west  might  have 
an  avenue  to  market.  That  is  to  say,  it  was  the  purchase  rather  than 
the  construction  of  a  great  highway. 

What  the  situation  of  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was,  in 
relation  to  the  Atlantic  states,  before  the  construction  of  the  national 
road,  and  the  purchase  of  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi,  is  that  of  Oregon 
and  California  now  to  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Immense  mineral 
and  agricultural  wealth,  with  vast  commercial  advantages,  are  held  in 
abeyance,  for  the  want  of  available  avenues  to  market.  That  an  avenue 
will  be  constructed  by  and  through  which  the  immense  natural  wealth 
of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Pacific  states,  shall  be  mutually 
exchanged,  has  been  carried,  as  it  were,  by  general  consent,  and  the 
question  is  narrowed  down  to  the  manner  of  construction. 

So  important  and  popular  a  work  has,  of  course,  not  escaped  the  at- 
tention of  the  trading  politicians;  and  many  projects  have  been  put  for- 
ward to  throw  the  work  either  directly  or  indirectly  into  the  hands  of 
the  federal  government,  in  order  that  the  huge  expenditure  and  great  pa- 
tronage it  will  involve — as  the  leading  measure  of  a  vast  series  of  similar 
works  in  the  back  ground — may  strengthen  the  power  of  the  executive, 
and  consolidate  the  strength  of  party.  One  of  these  plans  proposes  that 
a  company  shall  be  chartered  by  Congress,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,000, 


Railroad  to  the  Pacific.  5 

to  be  aided  by  898,000,000  of  United  States  stock,  besides  a  grant  of  a 
strip  of  land,  ten  miles  wide,  throughout  its  whole  extent.  So  exagge- 
rated a  proposition  requires  no  comment.  Another  plan,  is  for  the  work 
to  be  constructed  directly  by  government,  with  funds  derived  from  all 
the  proceeds  of  sales  of  lands  on  the  line  of  the  road,  and  half  of  those 
of  all  other  public  lands.  This,  of  course,  opens  the  door  to  the 
most  limitless  extravagance  and  corruption — is  antagonistic  to  all  the 
principles  heretofore  recognized  by  the  democratic,  party  in  relation  to 
the  powers  of  Congress  upon  the  subject,  and  as  ratified  repeatedly  by 
the  great  body  of  the  people  at  the  general  elections.  It  recognizes, 
however,  one  principle  which  is  sound,  and  the  right  application  of 
which,  free  from  political  objections,  will  form  the  mode  by  which  the 
object  may  be  realized.  The  public  lands,  which  constitute  the  domain 
of  the  United  States,  present  the  means  of  constructing  the  road.  Those 
lands  are  of  vast  extent,  and  valuable  according  to  fertility  and  situa- 
tion. Where  nature,  by  means  of  a  river,  has  formed  a  highway,  on 
which  produce,  with  little  expense,  may  be  transported  to  market,  the 
contiguous  lands  have  a  value  superior  to  that  of  soil  of  similar  quality 
remote  from  an  highway,  and  subjected  to  inordinate  expense  of  land 
carriage.  For  all  practical  purposes,  a  railway  has  an  effect  upon  land 
similar  to  that  of  a  river.  It  will  attract  settlers  along  its  borders,  and 
will  deliver  produce  from  farms  hundreds  of  miles  from  its  terminus,  on 
terms  more  favorable  to  the  producer  than  can  be  afforded  by  land  car- 
riage for  a  comparatively  trifling  distance.  Hence,  a  railroad  gives  value 
to  the  soil  through  which  it  penetrates,  and  equalizes  the  price  of  lands 
through  the  whole  range  of  its  operation.  From  the  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan  to  the  borders  of  the  Pacific,  the  ownership  rests  with  Con- 
gress ;  but  the  land  is  of  variable  value.  As  the  traveller  proceeds  from 
the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  fertility  of  the  soil  fades  into  arid  and 
sterile  tracts,  hundreds  of  miles  in  breadth,  until  the  chain  of  rocky 
mountains  being  penetrated,  the  renewed  verdure  of  the  eastern  slopes 
rewards  the  enterprize  of  the  pioneer.  Based  on  these  facts,  the  project 
of  Mr.  Whitney  proposes,  that  Congress  sell  to  him  a  tract  60  miles  wide, 
and  in  length  equal  to  the  route  from  Lake  Michigan,  to  some  favorable 
point  on  the  Pacific,  at  10  cents  per  acre.  This  land  to  be  so  disposed  of, 
that  the  good  lands  shall  be  made  to  produce  sufficient  to  defray  the  cost  of 
the  road  through  their  own  extent,  and  also  through  the  barren  waste, 
where  the  agricultural  value  of  the  soil  will  be  of  little  account ; 
whatever  of  land  should  remain,  after  the  whole  road  is  put  in  successful 
operation,  to  become  the  property  of  Mr.  Whitney,  and  his  assigns,  as 
a  reward  for  the  work.  The  road  to  remain  in  possession  of  government 
as  security  for  its  progress,  and  Congress  always  to  regulate  tolls,  so 
that  the  revenue  shall  never  exceed  the  accruing  expenses,  and  wear  and 
tear.  The  process  would  be  thus  :  as  soon  as  100  miles  of  road  should 
be  located,  Mr.  Whitney  would  provide  funds  for  the  complete  construc- 
tion of  10  miles;  when  the  commissioner  appointed  by  Congress  should 
be  satisfied  that  the  work  was  efficiently  done,  he  should  issue  to  Mr. 
Whitney  patents  for  5  miles,  by  60  wide,  of  land,  or  192,000  acres, 
which  would  realize  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  10  miles  of  road  ;  the 
other  5  miles,  or  192,000  acres,  remaining  untouched,  in  possession  of 
the  government,  in  addition  to  the  10  miles  of  road,  as  security.  When 
the  poor  lands  are  approached,  this  half  would  no  longer  be  sufficient  for 


6  Railroad  to  the  Pacific. 

the  construction  of  the  10  miles ;  and  it  would  become  necessary  to 
recur  to  the  remaining  alternate  reserved  half  to  carry  on  the  work,  un- 
til good  lands  should  be  again  reached  across  the  desert.  Thus,  accord- 
ing to  the  bill,  Congress  sets  apart  and  sells  to  Mr.  Whitney  60  miles 
wide  of  the  public  land,  from  the  lake  to  the  Pacific,  and  an  equal  num- 
ber of  acres  for  any  already  sold  on  the  tract ;  and,  as  before  stated,  the 
good  lands,  which  extend  800  miles,  must  be  made  to  produce  means  to 
construct  1,600  mile^  of  road,  (800  miles  through  poor  lands,)  or  one 
mile  by  60,  being  38,400  acres,  must  furnish  means  for  two  miles  of  road. 
He  would,  immediately  after  the  bill  becomes  a  law,  survey  and  locate 
the  route  for  200  or  300  miles,  so  as  to  secure  the  lands ;  then  make  a 
contract  for  the  grading  of  100  or  200  miles  of  the  road,  and  make  all 
arrangements  and  preparations,  with  machinery,  to  go  on  with  the  work  ; 
and  when,  having  completed  10  miles  of  road,  as  the  bill  provides,  on 
the  best  plan  of  construction  of  railroads  of  the  present  day,  on  a  guage 
of  not  less  than  six  feet  wtde,  and  with  an  iron  rail  of  not  less  than  sixty- 
four  pounds  to  the  yard — all  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  commissioner 
and  government;  then  he  would,  under  the  certificate  of  the  commis- 
sioner, be  allowed  to  sell  5  miles  by  60,  the  one-half  through  which  the 
road  had  been  completed,  or  192,000  acres;  which,  at  the  present  price, 
(72  cents  per  acre,)  for  soldiers'  bounties,  and  which  must  be  the  price 
of  the  best  lands  until  some  16,000,000  of  acres  are  disposed  of,  would 
amount  to  8138,240.  Now,  such  a  road  as  the  bill  calls  for,  cannot  be 
built  short  of  $20,000  per  mile,  and  the  10  miles  would  cost  $200,000; 
for  which  outlay,  he  would  receive  lands  which  can  now  be  purchased 
for  $138,240,  or  $61,760  less  than  the  actual  outlay — the  government 
holding  the  other  half,  (five  miles  by  60,)  192,000,  through  which  the 
road  had  been  builtj  and  also  holding  the  road.  Now,  if  he  could  not 
make  this  192,000  acres  produce  enough  to  return  the  $200,000  expend- 
ed on  the  10  miles  of  road,  then  the  work  could  not  be  continued,  and 
the  government  would  not  allow  him  to  take  one  acre  of  land,  and  the 
$200,000,  and  as  much  more  as  had  been  expended  in  the  experiment 
would  have  been  lost.  But  if,  from  the  results  of  his  energies,  efforts, 
and  labor,  the  192,000  acres  should  be  raised  from  its  present  value,  to 
or  beyond  the  $200,000  expended,  then  the  work  could  be  continued, 
and  the  192,000  acres,  the  other- half  held  by  the  government,  would 
experience  an  equal  increase  in  value  from  the  same  causes.  Such 
would  be  the  mode  of  proceeding  for  800  miles  through  the  good  or  avail- 
able lands,  or  so  far  as  the  5  miles  by  60,  or  192,090  acres,  would  fur- 
nish means  to  construct  the  10  miles  of  road,  the  government  always 
holding  one-half,  (alternate  5  miles  by  60,)  of  all  the  lands,  and  also  hold- 
ing the  road  as  security  for  all  ;  each  and  every  ten  miles  of  road  being 
always  completed  in  advance  of  the  sale  of  lands,  and  the  road  with 
the  alternate  settlements  imparting  benefits  to,  and  enhancing  the  half 
held  by  the  government,  far  exceeding  the  value  of  the  first  sales. 

In  this  plan,  there  are  avoided  the  great  evils  of  extending  the 
patronage  of  the  government — of  creating  a  gigantic  debt,  or  of  giv- 
ing life  to  a  corporation  of  dangerous  magnitude.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  work  creates  for  itself  the  "meat  on  which  it  feeds."  Lands,  which 
are  now  100  miles  in  the  interior  of  a  prairie,  are  of  no  comparative 
value,  because  inacessible  to  market ;  but  as  soon  as  penetrated  by  the 
road,  and  brought  within  five  hours  of  its  terminus,  they  become  at  once 


Railroad  to  the  Pacific.  7 

of  great  value,  and  will  command  prices  superior  to  those,  which  less 
fertile  soils  on  the  borders  of  western  streams  might  sell  for.  As  the 
favorable  localities  on  the  natural  avenues  become  crowded  with  settlers, 
the  rare  advantage  offered  by  the  new  avenue,  through  hitherto  untouched 
soil  of  surpassing  richness,  will  be  eagerly  sought  for  ;  and  western  mi- 
gration will  receive  a  new  impulse,  while  the  great  work  will  derive  new 
strength  from  the  population  pressing  on  its  track. 

This  proposition  affords,  therefore,  the  most  feasible  mode  of  perfect- 
ing the  stupendous  work,  and  grasping  as  it  were,  with  an  iron  arm,  not 
only  the  natural  wealth  of  those  wonderful  states  springing  upon  the  Pa- 
cific, but  of  nationalising  their  trade  and  creating  a  point  of  attraction 
for  the  commerce  of  Asia,  as  well  as  a  direct  home  market  for  the  pro- 
duce of  our  fisheries,  which,  for  want  of  such  a  facility,  are  in  danger  of 
being  altogether  denationalised. 

That  California  is  to  yield,  annually,  a  large  quantity  of  gold  as  a  staple 
production,  is  now  no  longer  problematical.  Almost  (if  not  quite  exhaust- 
less  quantities  of  the  precious  metals)  are  known  to  exist,  and  they  are 
to  reward  the  hardy  toil  of  the  persevering  miner  in  such  increasing 
volume  as  materially  to  affect  the  currency  of  the  world.  They  are  to 
impart  to  commerce  a  material  accession  of  monied  capital ;  and  the  in- 
crease of  this  wealth  must  manifest  itself  in  a  rise  of  prices.  That 
prices  are  always  higher  in  that  country  which  is  the  richest,  is  but  ano- 
ther mode  of  stating  that  money  being  there  more  abundant  is  of  less 
relative  value.  If  the  gold  of  California  is  by  prompt  means  of  com- 
munication poured  into  the  lap  of  the  United  States,  and  gradually  swells 
the  volume  of  the  circulating  coin  as  it  passes  in  new  and  shining  pieces 
from  the  mint  and  its  branches,  a  gradual  increase  in  the  distributive 
wealth  of  the  whole  Union  must  manifest  itself  in  a  rise  in  values,  and 
enhanced  ease  in  the  discharge  of  obligations  and  taxes.  That  a  portion 
of  this  golden  product  will  flow  off  as  a  staple  export  of  the  United  States, 
in  conjunction  with  corn  and  cotton,  for  the  purchase  of  more  desirable 
descriptions  of  wealth,  will  be  both  necessary  and  inevitable.  But  that 
it  should  flow  into  and  through  the  channels  of  internal  commerce  by 
means  of  an  interior  avenue  from  the  mines  to  the  mints  and  merchants, 
is  of  infinite  importance  to  the  general  right  of  participation  in  so  na- 
tional a  product.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  influence  of  the  rail- 
road in  guiding  the  precious  stream  from  the  mines  into  the  heart  of  the 
Union,  will  be  productive  of  more  real  wealth  than  several  times  the  cost 
of  the  work. 

The  road  which  transports  mineral  wealth  and  Asiatic  merchandise 
from  the  borders  of  the  Pacific  to  the  bosom  of  the  great  lakes,  will  re- 
turn in  almost  limitless  quantities  the  swelling  produce  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  the  pioneers,  as  well  as  to  the  necessi- 
ties and  growing  demands  of  the  over-populated  countries  of  Asia.  Under 
the  supposition  that  the  appropriation  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lands  to 
the  construction  of  the  road  would  divert  some  2£  to  three  millions  of 
revenue  now  derived  from  that  source  to  the  federal  treasury,  the 
outlay  would  be  judicious  on  the  part  of  the  government  merely  as  a 
financial  measure,  inasmuch  as  the  influence  of  the  road  in  finding  an 
Asiatic  market  for  the  produce  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  facili- 
tating the  general  exports  of  this  country,  in  return  for  which,  .should  the 


8  Rarlroad  to  the  Pacific. 

system  of  indirect  taxes  be  continued,  the  revenues  from  the  returns  of 
those  produce  sales  would  more  than  equal  the  present  revenue  from  the 
lands. 

It  has  been  urged 'that  a  railway  of  such  extent  could  not  carry  freight 
in  competition  with  sailing  vessels  to  the  Isthmus,  even  when  tranship, 
ment  takes  place  at  Panama.  Now  we  are  to  reflect  th?t  the  China  com- 
merce coming  west  in  the  sphere  of  the  great  circle,  will  always  approach 
the  Western  side  of  the  continent  at  a  point  near  the  proposed  terminus 
of  the  road ;  from  that  point  to  New-York,  via  Panama,  the  distance  is 
in  round  numbers  6,000  miles,  while  the  length  of  the  railroad  in  round 
numbers  is  2,000  miles  to  lake  Michigan,  or  3,000  to  the  Atlantic.  That 
is  to  say,  the  Panama  route  is  an  arc  of  6,000  miles,  of  which  the  rail- 
road route  is  the  chord.  Now,  in  relation  to  the  comparative  abilities  of 
rail  cars  and  vessels,  we  have  one  great  practical  example  worth  myriads 
of  theories.  The  Hudson  river,  running  150  miles  from  Albany  to  New- 
York,  has  facilities  for  steam  freighting  unsurpassed  on  any  water-course 
in  the  world.  Notwithstanding  this,  a  company  of  the  most  sagacious  and 
successful  merchants  of  New-York  have  undertaken  to  compete  with  that 
stream  and  its  advantages,  by  the  construction  of  a  railroad  through  the 
rocky  border  of  the  river,  at  an  expense  of  probably  $12,000,000,  or  one- 
fifth  of  the  whole  estimated  cost  of  the  Pacific  railroad  on  the  plan  pro- 
posed. Without  saving  one  mile  of  distance,  they  have,  guided  by  their 
own  practical  shrewdness,  entered  into  this  outlay,  depending  solely 
upont  the  superior  advantages  of  a  railway  over  steam  or  sailing  navi- 
gation, under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  If  this  view  is  true  on 
the  Hudson,  in  how  much  greater  a  degree  must  the  advantages  of  a 
railroad  entirely  in  our  own  country,  manifest  themselves  over  a  sailing 
route  of  triple  distance,  to  be  transhipped  in  a  disturbed,  and  sickly  and 
foreign  country,  subject  to  the  adverse  influences  of  hostile  powers  ?  For 
all  those  supplies  which  the  great  West  require,  the  facilities  will  be  still 
greater ;  as  thus,  under  the  supposition  that  the  road  not  being  built,  the 
China  trade  takes  the  Panama  route,  a  chest  of  tea  coming  from  China 
will  then  go  6,000  miles  from  the  Pacific  coast  to  New-York,  thence 
1,000  miles  by  inland  freight  For  consumption  in  the  Mississippi  valley, 
making  7,000  miles,  whereas  by  railroad  it  would  come  from  the  Pacific  in 
2,000  miles  to  the  great  valley.  The  same  distance  would  be  saved 
in  the  transport  of  corn  and  other  produce  from  the  West  for  Asiatic 
consumption. 

;^P«  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  many  of  the  counter-projects  for  the  guid- 
^**nce  of  the  China  trade  into  other  channels,  have  arisen  from  a  desire  to 
benefit  sections  and  localities,  no  matter  at  what  expense  of  the  general 
welfare.  Such  schemes  never' succeed.  The  instinct  of  commerce  is 
unerring  in  finding  out  and  following  the  most  direct  and  cheapest  chan- 
nels. As  infallibly  as  that  the  bee,  when  loaded,  takes  the  shortest  road  to 
the  hive,  so  will  merchandise  in  motion  make  a  "  bee-line"  to  its  desti- 
nation, and  efforts  to  divert  it,  for  sectional  benefit,  can  ©nly  result  in 
ultimate  loss. 

The  necessity  for  immediate  action  in  the  matter  is  obvious,  when 
we  reflect  that  the  feasibility  of  the  plan  depends  upon  the  posses- 
sion of  the  good  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi.  If  delayed  until  these 
are  occupied  by  settlers,  the  whole  project  becomes  impracticable. 


